Yesterday afternoon things were looking stormy outside, and I was seeing reports of hail and stuff north of us. When a tornado watch turned into a tornado warning and the lights started flickering, I closed down the work I was doing and figured I’d just pick it back up later when things settled down.

A few minutes later, a friend called, telling us to get in our basement, which we promptly did. Here’s what was going on:

The tornado started in West Springfield, moved across the river, and then hit downtown. The South End got hit hard, and then it continued east. Here’s the route, near as I can figure:

Our house is in the lower right-hand corner of that map, so you can see that it wasn’t far from us. Springfield College got a good share of damage.

Nearby towns of Monson and Brimfield got especially savaged. You can read more details here.

We’re fine, as is everyone we know. Our power never went off, though a friend’s did, and is still out. We got wind and some limbs down (someone lost some roof insulation, it seems) but nothing major, or even terribly minor.

The front continued to kick up little storm cells throughout the evening, but by about 9pm it seemed like the worst was over.

Thankfully, for us there’s no clean-up to do. For many others, that’s not the case. There are reports of four dead.

It’s not the horror of Joplin, MO, but it’s incredibly unusual for the Northeast.

3 Responses to Tornado in Springfield

Glad you’re OK. I knew a couple of Illinois veterans like you would take the necessary precautions, but we also all know that most of the “precautions” you can take is huddling down and hoping it doesn’t hit you. Please update us on Cappy and how he did in this crisis.

Hey Nige–Cappy did fine. Initially he had to be coaxed down the stairs of the basement (they weren’t Beebo’s favorite treads, either), but then he happily chewed on a toy while the storm raged outside and Dave and I discussed how we really should know which side of the basement would be safer, and why.